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GENEWS ONLINE is the online edition of the official publication of The UPLB Genetics Society. The UPLB Genetics Society, also known as GeneSoc, is a duly recognized academic organization at UP Los Banos. The organization strives to promote and create awareness about the science of Genetics in the Philippines.

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Shedding a new light on genetic treatments, evolution

Written by Keach Nichole F. Lotho (Riboswitch)

Researchers from the Department of Cell
Biology and Molecular Genetics in the University of Maryland discovered that
double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) made in the neurons of Caenorhabditis elegans, a species of roundworm commonly used in
laboratory experiments, can trigger silencing of genes in the germ cells which
are known to produce sperm or egg cells essential in an organism’s reproductive
processes. In this particular study published on early 2015 in the online
database of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, the team of scientists found out that the silencing of
a gene of a matching sequence could persist in more than 25 generations.

The inheritance through the germline is
believed not to be influenced by environmental effects which can alter the soma or
body cells. However, certain genes in the germline can be silenced, or switched
off, as caused by environmental factors. These modifications are sometimes
transgenerational; that is, they can be passed across multiple generations. These
transgenerational effects are initiated either by direct changes in the
ancestral germline or by the transmission of genetic information from somatic
cells to the germ cells. Researchers find it difficult to distinguish between
the two aforementioned mechanisms, causing manipulation in the activity of gene
in specific tissues through the use of dsRNA.

In order to come up with the recent finding that genes within the germ cells can be silenced by dsRNA, scientists used the neurons of C. elegans to produce
molecules of dsRNA. Such molecules are known to travel between somatic cells
and can silence genes corresponding to a particular section of a cell’s DNA.
The transfer among tissues of gene-regulatory information continues through the
transport of another form of dsRNA called mobile RNA. Mobile RNAs are molecules
that enter the germline and give an organism the ability to transfer
gene-specific regulatory information from the soma across generations, a
mechanism enabling for transgenerational effects in animals.

This finding is a major breakthrough in
understanding evolutionary biology considering that some other animals may use
such dsRNA transport to become accustomed to their environment. Furthermore, the
study envisions its contribution to the advancement of medical treatments for genetic disorders through RNA interference (RNAi) wherein
a specific gene-causing disease that matches the dsRNA can be targeted to be switched off. This,
however, posts a problem as regards to the long-term stability of gene silencing.

University of Maryland. (2015, February 2). New mechanism of inheritance could advance study of evolution, disease treatment. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 25, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150202212449.htm

The DNA Backbone

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About The UPLB Genetics Society

The UPLB Genetics Society, also known as GeneSoc, is a duly recognized academic organization in UPLB that was established in 1983. Through the years, the organization strives to promote and create awareness about the science of Genetics in the Philippines.